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Attention Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT), and Macy’s (M): Discount retailer Dollar General (DG) is fast evolving into a one-stop shopping store for value-seeking shoppers, and as unlikely as it might seem, it aims to pierce your tightly knit group.

And as Dollar General becomes more and more of a low-priced retailer of most of everyday necessities to all types of consumers, a more diversified group of investors is getting attracted to the stock.

That apparently is one of the reasons why S&P Capital IQ recently raised its price target for Dollar General’s stock -- by a hefty $8 a share, to $61. Analyst Joseph Agnese of S&P Capital IQ, who has reiterated his buy recommendation on the stock, currently trading at $50 a share, expects sales growth will accelerate and margins to expand in the second half of fiscal 2014, ending January 31, 2014. The stock is up from $30, where it was trading in August 2011.

“Dollar General aims to provide a one-stop shopping destination for everyday necessities for value-conscious consumers,” says Agnese, offering varied products, from food and cleaning supplies to health and beauty items and apparel and home furnishings. With its basic customers residing within about five miles, or a 10-minute drive, of its stores, Dollar General strives to establish customer loyalty by replenishing each week the core necessities its stores’ carry on their shelves.

Equally important, Dollar General has been a consistent winner since November 2009, when private equity fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) took the discount retailer public at $21 a share -- two years after it had acquired the company in July 2007. True, the original customer base of Dollar General was the price-conscious low income group, but it has since expanded its appeal to the middle-class families with its more varied assortment of products readily available at its stores.

So it isn’t surprising that a big number of Dollar General’s shareholders include some of the large institutional investors known for their prudence as well as for their pursuit of growth-and-value oriented companies.

KKR remains the largest stakeholder despite recent sales of some of its holdings, and still holds 9.5% of the stock. Other big shareholders include T. Rowe Price Associates (TROW), which owns 4.3%; Lone Pine Capital, holding 4.1%; Goldman Sachs (GS), which has 3.7%; Vanguard Group, with 3.5%; and State Street Advisors, with 3.1%.

Dollar General is benefiting, notes Agnese, from the opening of more stores (it opened 625 stores in 2012 and intends to open about the same number this year), shrinking losses from thefts, and increased number of private label products. And the company is expanding its offerings of traffic-driving “convenience food,” such as snacks and beverage products, as well as basic necessities for the kitchen.

Indeed, with its marketing tagline of “Save Time, Save Money, Everyday,” Dollar General aims to attract a wider customer base to its 10,200 stores in 40 states, that primarily sell many of the must-have necessities of daily living. Apart from food and drinks, its stores offer paper and cleaning products and pet-care supplies. And many of the discretionary-purchase type products, such as home decorations, towels, and such are also everyday offerings. Most of the products sell for $10 each and down to as low as $1, or less.

In sum, Dollar General's business fundamentals continues to be sound. The financial results from its most recent quarter have been impressive. Agnese notes that the company’s earnings of 97 cents a share for the period beat his own estimate by 5 cents. The 3% rise in same-store sales growth was in line with his forecast, but “margins widened more than we expected on improved transportation efficiencies and higher mark-ups,” says Agnese.

For fiscal 2013, the company earned $2.85 a share on revenues of $16.02 billion vs. fiscal 2012’s $2.22 a share on sales of $14.80 billion. Management's earnings forecast for fiscal 2014 ranges between $3.15 and $3.30 a share. Some analysts figure Dollar General will earn $3.27 a share on revenues of $17.63 billion.

The quarterly results were “decent in the midst of a choppy period,” says Aram Rubinson, analyst at Nomura Securities, who rates the stock as a buy.

To be sure, the once "new kid" on the block in discount retailing, Dollar General is now a growth mainstay in the retail industry as the new one-stop shopping destination for daily necessities -- and discretionary-type purchases.